State officials watching disturbance in Gulf

BATON ROUGE – The Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness is keeping watch on storms brewing in the northern Gulf of Mexico due south of the Louisiana coast.

GOHSEP reports that the chance of tropical development remains low for the storms associated with a trough of low pressure in the Gulf, but there's a slight possibility for changes.

The National Hurricane Center at 1 p.m. reported "upper level winds are not conducive for significant development over the next couple of days."

Currently, it's a set of disorganized showers and thunderstorms and the chance of formation into a tropical storm is 10 percent. The showers are moving to the west at 5 to 10 mph.

"Many of you may be finalizing plans for Labor Day weekend," said GOHSEP Director Kevin Davis. "This is also a good time to finalize your emergency plan for tropical activity. If you are traveling this week, make sure you watch for potential advisories associated with these storms."

The NHC is also tracking a tropical wave about 900 miles east of the Lesser Antilles. It's described as producing "a large area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms but conditions are not favorable for significant development over the next couple of days."

The storm is moving northwest at about 5 mph and forecasters say there is a 20 percent chance of development during the next five days.

Hurricane Cristobal, well off the Florida coast, is moving northeastward away from the eastern shore of the United States and not expected to make landfall.

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